Do yourself a favor, and just skip this series.

I read the first two books, and was largely unimpressed. (From the little bit of research I have done, it seems the the third book in the series does not yet exist. Who knows if it ever will?) This was a series aimed at Teens, which, I find can be hit or miss. Some teen books are wonderful. Some, like these, are not so well written. It seemed to be about vampires, and so, it got my attention. I gave it a shot.

The first book in the series is called Bloodlust. Jason a high-school senior, and his sister, who might be a sophomore, just moved to California with their mom and dad. They move into a very exclusive, very rich, gated community, (an opportunity they have thanks to the connections from their Aunt).

Part of the book is about Jason noticing the differences between California and Michigan, where they came from. I only found that interesting because I just moved to California from the Midwest, and noticed some of the same things that the main character did. But, would anyone who has always lived in California find this interesting? Would someone who never lived in, or visited, California relate to this? I doubt it.

There used to be a popular tv show called “Beverly Hills 90210″. Ever seen it? I think Alex Duval has seen the show, because the basic story line is similar. Kid from Midwest moves to rich California area, and adjusts. This is not a new idea. Duval might have also watched the currently popular teen series “The OC”, because he gives Jason a offbeat geeky sidekick named Adam, who is not a part of the In Crowd, to hang around with, (only Adam is a film geek, whereas Seth in the OC is a comic book geek).

I had two major problems with this book. First of all, you know from just glancing at the cover that there are vampires involved somewhere in this book. Its a given. But, instead of going with that, Duval takes us slowly through the book as Adam and Jason go from noticing that something is odd with the popular kids, to finally figuring out that they are vampires. What was the point of dragging that out?

I had another problem with this book. Early on, Jason goes to a big party, and there is a lot of underage drinking going on. Not a big surprise, we all know that this goes on, so, I’m not faulting the author by showing some of that. At the first party, Jason doesn’t drink. He is on the swim team, and is trying to stay healthy, so he doesn’t have an interest in drinking. He also thinks that some of the way the other kids are acting when they drink is pretty stupid, and doesn’t want to be like that.

I thought it was kind of cool of Duval to introduce a main character who wasn’t a drinker, without doing it in an “After School Special” kind of way. He’s not drinking because he is an athlete. But then, at the second party, Jason gets upset because he’s not getting the attention he wants from the popular girl he has a crush on, and so, immediately starts drinking. After that, Jason drinks at every party, but doesn’t get out of hand with it or anything, as if that somehow makes him just as responsible as he was before. How disappointing.

I read the second book in the series, called Initiation, hoping it would be a better book. It wasn’t.

Duval seemed to be stuck on the word “ass” in this book. Characters are always calling each other an “ass”. In one case, the word “asshat” is used. They worry about “looking like an ass”, and warn each other not to “act like an ass”. The word “asinine” appears once, just for some variety, I guess. I am someone who uses swear words on a daily basis, and even to me, the swearing seemed excessive. Especially when you consider that this book is aimed at teens, and, since most of the characters are high schoolers, it means that in reality the eleven and twelve year olds are the ones who will pick up this book to read. Did you really need that word, and all its varieties, that many times?

Part of this story involves a friend of Jason’s from Michigan, Tyler, who just spontaneously decides to visit him in California. Duval attempts a story line directly from an “After School Special” with this book, giving Tyler a drug problem. Tyler is addicted to Ritalin, a prescription drug that Tyler has not been prescribed, and has run into trouble back in Michigan because he owes his dealer a bunch of money. Duval might have been going for the trite “drugs are bad” story line, but if so, fails miserably. He still has teens drinking at parties, which none of the characters see as either “bad” or in any way related to being addicted to drugs. I don’t like the mixed message it sends to the young readers the book is marketed to.

Neither one of these books had much to do with the vampires in the story. You know they are there, you know who they are, but that’s all you get. Both books involve Jason trying to stop a vampire from killing people, but not even in a cool “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” kind of way.

Like I said, save yourself the bother, and skip this series. I wish I did.